State road projects tied to governor's bond plan

Projects key to relieving traffic congestion in the Chicago area would be postponed if a $10.4 billion, multiyear highway plan announced Friday is not accompanied by legislative approval of a controversial capital bond program, the state's top transportation official warned.

The $200 million widening of Interstate Highway 55 between Bolingbrook and Joliet is the only project in the state that the Illinois Department of Transportation deemed untouchable if lawmakers reject Gov. Rod Blagojevich's plan to use road funds and tax receipts in paying for bonds to finance highway construction.

Without the $2.3 billion bond plan, about $80 million for the I-55 project would come from cuts in other road-expansion projects statewide, Transportation Secretary Tim Martin said.

Such a scenario would keep the state mostly in a repair and maintenance mode--despite a hefty one-third increase in federal highway funding through 2009.

The warning was issued as Martin unveiled his blueprint to repair roads and bridges statewide through 2012 and add miles of new lanes to ease gridlock from the suburbs to southern Illinois.

Blagojevich's bond plan has received a mixed reaction in the General Assembly, especially among the Republican minority. The roadwork plan is usually updated every spring, but this year's release was moved up a month to allow the legislature an opportunity to see what is at stake with the bond plan, IDOT officials said.

Despite the new details, Republican lawmakers reacted coolly.

Senate Minority Leader Frank Watson (R-Greenville) said it seemed Blagojevich has "just pinned himself in a corner" with the cost of the roads program because he has diverted money from the state's road fund to pay other state expenses.

The governor's "attitude is that they may not have enough money to do some of the necessary things to be done so they point their fingers" at Republicans, Watson said. "If they hadn't done all those diversions ... then obviously we'd be in much better shape."

Martin acknowledged that many long-sought projects to improve traffic flow and safety in Chicago's collar counties could be delayed for years without a bond package, although he declined to list any specific projects on the chopping block.

"This is not a threat," Martin said. "But I am not going to be accused of playing a shell game. If the bond program does not pass, we have to find $80 million."